Louisiana, Ohio, Kansas and West Virginia sue over illegal migrants in census
The legal battle over the inclusion of illegal immigrants in the U.S. Census Bureau’s count for congressional seat apportionment has reached a new level with attorneys general from Louisiana, Kansas, Ohio, and West Virginia filing a lawsuit to block this practice. The lawsuit alleges that the Biden administration’s decision to include illegal immigrants in the 2020 census count has resulted in states like Ohio and West Virginia losing congressional seats and electoral votes to states with larger populations of illegal immigrants.
The lawsuit, filed in Louisiana federal court, argues that including illegal immigrants in the census count violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal representation principle and Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution. The attorneys general claim that counting illegal immigrants in the census robs certain states of their rightful share of political representation and redistributes political power to states with high numbers of illegal immigrants.
The Residence Rule, developed by the U.S. Census Bureau for the 2020 census, states that foreign nationals living in the U.S. are counted in the census and allocated to the state where their “usual residence” is located. This rule applies regardless of whether these foreign nationals are lawfully present in the U.S. or hold temporary visas. The lawsuit argues that this rule violates the federal government’s constitutional obligation to conduct an “actual Enumeration” of the number of “persons in each State.”
The attorneys general also point out that illegal immigration has a significant impact on the distribution of seats in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College, as the illegal immigrant population is large and highly concentrated in certain states. Research cited in the lawsuit suggests that there are approximately 11.7 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. and that the country has been experiencing the largest wave of immigration in its history over the last three decades.
The lawsuit raises concerns about the impact of including illegal immigrants in the census count on voting power and representation for American citizens. It argues that counting illegal aliens in the census takes voting power from some Americans and gives it to others. The attorneys general are seeking to prevent the continuation of this practice in future census counts to ensure fair and accurate representation for all states.
As the legal battle unfolds, it remains to be seen how the outcome will affect the incoming Trump administration’s immigration policies and efforts to address the issue of illegal immigration. The lawsuit represents a significant challenge to the Biden administration’s approach to census counting and could have far-reaching implications for the distribution of political power in the United States.
